A quantum accelerometer operates by transforming a cloud of cold atoms into two spatially separated clouds in free fall such that the change of their vertical displacement in time mimics the two arms of an interferometer. The manipulation of the atom cloud is achieved by using one laser pulse to split the cloud and then a second to recombine the cloud. When the sensor has been subject to a specific force (e.g. acceleration and/or gravity), the two clouds of atoms exhibit different phase characteristics that can be measured. Counting the number of atoms in each cloud yields the relative phase, which in turn yields acceleration of the platform relative to the inertial frame defined by the freely falling atoms. Such a sensor has the potential to produce very precise measurements of acceleration or gravity [1]}. However, the sensor suffers from two key limitations that must be overcome.
